Karmic tail 15-8-11: Aggressiveness

In this life

This time it is the person who endures aggression, from childhood on, from schoolmates. Enrolling in boxing or a martial art is then a stroke of luck: the person learns to hit back, only against those who attack. The next trial comes when a child arrives in the family. Often the child develops differently from what was hoped: pampered, not very robust, with a peaceful temperament. Irritation rises at seeing the child take another path, and violence resurfaces against someone weaker: a hand is raised against the child to make them react and force them to change. The child withdraws further, and the mother takes the child’s side. The method says that life then gives a new lesson, this time on the ground of the body: blows, injuries, a street brawl that turns bad, a heavy object that falls. Harshness toward someone weaker draws a penalty from someone stronger.

The lesson

The method asks the person to learn to keep in check the aggression smoldering inside. The strength and techniques acquired are legitimate only for protecting oneself, never for attacking. Better to avoid every fight: a moment of carelessness is enough to injure someone badly and end up behind bars. In many situations, flexibility and a sense of negotiation advantageously replace fists, and that is where true mastery lies.

An inner aggression smolders and can draw violence in return. Charging ahead with insistence and harshness in the name of what seems right becomes the basic reflex.

The signals

• Temptations one does not resist
• Alcohol or drugs that have become a dependency
• High-profile legal cases
• Others held responsible for one’s troubles
• Energy spent for nothing
• Rights or privileges lost
• Aggression that ends in blows
• A fragile physical body
• Relationships based on sexual dependence
• Loss of control, public scenes
• Contempt and harassment toward the weaker
• Threats and blackmail toward those around you
• Situations experienced as dead ends
• Illegal activities
• Laws knowingly broken
• People around you used, or a feeling of being used

You learn to spot the aggression rising and to contain it before it is expressed. Combat techniques remain a means of protecting yourself, never a tool for dominating. You avoid fights, even when pride pushes you to respond, remembering what a single gesture can cost. In disagreements, diplomacy and negotiation take the place of confrontation.

The steps

• Note the situations that trigger your anger and your first signs of tension
• Reserve the combat techniques you have learned for defense alone
• Leave the premises as soon as a fight is brewing
• Replace a power struggle with a negotiation each week
• Breathe and delay your response when anger rises